What??!! I am pretty down to earth but... but... designs for the YSL label being created in Los Angeles. Who is going to be the house muse... Kim Kardashian... a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills... a bikini clad skater from Venice Beach? I guess I can look at it as Slimane embracing the Rive Gauche spirit, but this is going to take some getting used to.

P.S.
Although it is not as if we see designers working out of their studios.

well i know that YSL is not inspired by paris in particular, there's a great part that comes from "voyage", though it does still have a parisian chic to it. I was thinking about what Agee said in the way that when you create you're inspired by what is around you, obviously what you see every day will affect you and mark you in a certain way, so the fact that he's staying in LA instead of coming to Paris let's you know off the bat that it's going to be pretty different from what the YSL name usually is. (though like someone pointed out, we weren't expecting something that blends in with the previous work that's been done in this house)

What??!! I am pretty down to earth but... but... designs for the YSL label being created in Los Angeles. Who is going to be the house muse... Kim Kardashian... a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills... a bikini clad skater from Venice Beach? I guess I can look at it as Slimane embracing the Rive Gauche spirit, but this is going to take some getting used to.

P.S.
Although it is not as if we see designers working out of their studios.

Some of you definitely aren't at ease with Hedi's taste nor work, you've only got to look at his photography to know he won't be making Kim Kardashian a muse anytime soon... I would of preferred him to be in London, purely because I think London speaks volumes for his taste and sense of style, but I still don't know what to expect from him, one things for certain most of his campaigns will be in Black and White, if they are indeed to be shot by him, one thing I do love about him being in LA is that it's not very cliché (London, Paris, Milan, New York) where most Studios are based etc...

To address the matter more seriously, Slimane's Los Angeles is the grittier Los Angeles, and I think that it is a valid and interesting source of inspiration, but I don't find gritty Los Angeles / Hollywood all that deep or dynamic, gritty and stark Los Angeles of the 2000s does not look all that different than gritty and stark Los Angeles of the 1950s, 70s, or 90s. I don't think the same applies to London or New York, there is more dynamism in those cities. I don't want to make too much of a fuss about it because I can see him getting about five or six seasons out of it, and on top of that the guy has been presumably inspired by other locations, people, events and cultures, but Los Angeles does not impress me as the creative base for Yves Saint Laurent... I dunno maybe the guy is doing it for personal reasons, and if so I respect that, but it just seems odd and random... anyhoo I am going to keep an open mind.

Hedi must be one of the most (if not the most) anti-celebrity designer in the fashion arena.

Which is what cracks me up, of all places for Mr. Anti-Celebrity Fashion Designer to land, the guy has chosen to base himself out of Los Angeles. Yeah there is more to LA than celebrities and Venice Beach, but not so much that it can't be processed in a relatively short period of time, especially the part that he has tapped into - judging by his photography, it is that grimy part of LA that one encounters if one takes the wrong turn while going to The Ivy or Mr. Chow's in hopes of spotting celebrities.

He's been based in Los Angeles for a long time now. He decided he was going to work there from the beginning (it doesn't matter Vogue released it yesterday). He loves the city and he doesn't want to return to Paris, that's all.

Anyway, it's not that relevant; minds can travel all around the world.

I don't know if minimalism is the word, I think of modern and bold, but at the same time I truely think that Phoebe and Raf are in other level from Hedi.

or 'Minimal Baroque' as Miucca Prada called it in 2010.
I crave to know what is in stall for spring, at Jil Sander, at Yves Saint Laurent, at Dior. If it is a New Minimalism, my faith in fashion (which is rapidly dying after too many senseless appointments at influential houses) may be re-inspired.

Saint Laurent took inspiration from the streets.. if L.A. is as seedy as it is being described in this thread, perhaps Slimane is using it to create that darker side of luxury that Saint Laurent was inspired by.

His first collection hasn't even been presented and people are already panning it. The man wants to work out of LA. Let him. I don't see what the issue is. Perhaps if he is sending deigns inspired by Paris Hilton down the runway, then I could see the cause for alarm. However, his photography (for example) hasn't skewed that way since he has relocated and I don't know why people think his designs would do a 180 either.

I don't see anything particularly British about Phoebe's designs at Celine, and she designs out of London. Her choice to have the headquarters based there was out of necessity as she has a family. Hedi has spent the last several years of his life there, and I'm sure he feels comfortable and it has become familiar to him.

I for one will wait and see what he turns out after a couple of seasons to make any real judgements.

Saint Laurent took inspiration from the streets.. if L.A. is as seedy as it is being described in this thread, perhaps Slimane is using it to create that darker side of luxury that Saint Laurent was inspired by.

LA has a seedy side, every major city in the world has a seedy side, my thing is that, going by my observation, and admittedly I don't live there, AND Slimane's own photography, it is the same old, obvious stuff that has been going on in some form in LA and many other cities for generations: shaggy hair, tattoos, blank stares, hunched posture, hair dyed black or platinum blonde, dangling cigarette, color palette dominated by black, and so forth.

To be sure, globalization and the internet make it so that it is easy to have your pulse on the goings on at headquarters half-way around the globe, and any other places of interest and inspiration, so really it is not a big deal other than the irony of a European transplant, who made the following comment, "nothing looks worse than a dress or a suit on a red carpet. It is an ongoing tragedy of cheap fashion on cheap celebrities, followed by ubercheap comments. I only like designers’ clothes on models. Good models have an inner understanding of the clothes and design," living in Mecca for celebrities and red carpet events, and going to work for a conglomerate headed by a man married to a glamorous movie star whose job these days is to show up to events wearing creations by the various design houses he owns.

Anyhoo judging by the guy's history, Slimane will not likely be at YSL for more than five years, and he has not designed in a number of years, however, as a fashion photographer, he has remained part of the industry and likely done a lot of traveling. I would not be surprised if he does not already have an overflowing inspiration or sketch book that he will be tapping into for his first few collections for YSL, and of course the YSL archives are also available to him. I think that given his stance on the celebrities and red carpet dressing, his being based out of LA is worthy of a mocking comment or two - can't wait to see bodacious Salma wearing one of his creations, but that does not necessarily mean that I am predicting Slimane's doom as it relates to him being the CD of YSL.

If Mr. Slimane can offer up some good controversy to the house of YSL, then count me in. Sure Stefano was a good designer for this house but if I can see something unexpected at the house of YSL for once, that feeling where you first look at it and have to digest it, then love it in the end. That`s the feeling I love when I see a collection (hence why Miuccia has always been a favorite of mine, along with Phoebe). I completely support his decision to move to Los Angeles, and it`s unfair for people to criticize him for doing so without even knowing the pure knowledge of one of the most coolest cities in California.